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Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

tears upon her face Some deep sorrow gnaws ever at her heart Sometimes I wonder if she has a guilty memory which haunts her and sometimes I suspect Barrymore of being a domestic tyrant I have always felt that there was something singular and questionable in this man s character but the adventure of last night brings all my suspicions to a head And yet it may seem a small matter in itself You are aware that I am not a very sound sleeper and since I have been on guard in this house my slumbers have been lighter than

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

could go off to the other end of the world and leave me here alone You re not crabby are you No no not at all I think I ll go Have some refreshment said the little man and he added in a confidential way It s always like this ain t it And must be unless you had polygamy only the other way round you understand He laughed like an idiot while I made for the door I was through it when a sudden fantastic impulse came upon me and I went back to my successful rival who looked

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

sure of being liked wherever he appeared Darcy was continually giving offense The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic Bingley had never met with more pleasant people or prettier girls in his life everybody had been most kind and attentive to him there had been no formality no stiffness he had soon felt acquainted with all the room and as to Miss Bennet he could not conceive an angel more beautiful Darcy on the contrary had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion for none of whom

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

said Mr Giles recovering his usual tone of patronage and sends his respectful duty sir That s well said the doctor Seeing you here reminds me Mr Giles that on the day before that on which I was called away so hurriedly I executed at the request of your good mistress a small commission in your favour Just step into this corner a moment will you Mr Giles walked into the corner with much importance and some wonder and was honoured with a short whispering conference with the doctor on the termination of which he made a great many bows

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

his frightened and somewhat fawning way They ll search Appin with candles and we must have all things straight We re digging the bit guns and swords into the moss ye see and these I am thinking will be your ain French clothes We ll be to bury them I believe Bury my French clothes cried Alan Troth no And he laid hold upon the packet and retired into the barn to shift himself recommending me in the meanwhile to his kinsman James carried me accordingly into the kitchen and sat down with me at table smiling and talking at

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

inclement one and the tall traveller had the high warm collar turned up to protect his throat against the bitter March wind He appeared as far as the guard could judge by so hurried an inspection to be a man between fifty and sixty years of age who had retained a good deal of the vigour and activity of his youth In one hand he carried a brown leather Gladstone bag His companion was a lady tall and erect walking with a vigorous step which outpaced the gentleman beside her She wore a long fawn coloured dust cloak a black

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

Mrs Price seemed rather surprised that a girl should be fixed on when she had so many fine boys but accepted the offer most thankfully assuring them of her daughter s being a very well disposed good humoured girl and trusting they would never have cause to throw her off She spoke of her farther as somewhat delicate and puny but was sanguine in the hope of her being materially better for change of air Poor woman she probably thought change of air might agree with many of her children CHAPTER II The little girl performed her long journey in

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

made my way up the river before I reached you at the fazenda I instituted very particular inquiries about Maple White At Para they knew nothing Fortunately I had a definite clew for there was a particular picture in his sketch book which showed him taking lunch with a certain ecclesiastic at Rosario This priest I was able to find and though he proved a very argumentative fellow who took it absurdly amiss that I should point out to him the corrosive effect which modern science must have upon his beliefs he none the less gave me some positive information

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

in anything else I deserve neither such praise nor such censure cried Elizabeth I am _not_ a great reader and I have pleasure in many things In nursing your sister I am sure you have pleasure said Bingley and I hope it will be soon increased by seeing her quite well Elizabeth thanked him from her heart and then walked towards the table where a few books were lying He immediately offered to fetch her others all that his library afforded And I wish my collection were larger for your benefit and my own credit but I am an idle

Jane Austen

Emma

a great while and indeed she must thankfully say that their petticoats were all very strong For shame Emma Do not mimic her You divert me against my conscience And upon my word I do not think Mr Knightley would be much disturbed by Miss Bates Little things do not irritate him She might talk on and if he wanted to say any thing himself he would only talk louder and drown her voice But the question is not whether it would be a bad connexion for him but whether he wishes it and I think he does I have

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

been always locked up We found the brass box there although its contents had been destroyed On the inside of the cover was a paper label with the initials of K K K repeated upon it and Letters memoranda receipts and a register written beneath These we presume indicated the nature of the papers which had been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw For the rest there was nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many scattered papers and note books bearing upon my uncle s life in America Some of them were of the war time and showed

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

be made uncomfortable any more I hope We shall soon improve our youthful humours God help me I might have been improved for my whole life I might have been made another creature perhaps for life by a kind word at that season A word of encouragement and explanation of pity for my childish ignorance of welcome home of reassurance to me that it was home might have made me dutiful to him in my heart henceforth instead of in my hypocritical outside and might have made me respect instead of hate him I thought my mother was sorry to

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

lamp in her hand which she held above her head pushing her face forward and peering at us I could see that she was pretty and from the gloss with which the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich material She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as though asking a question and when my companion answered in a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly fell from her hand Colonel Stark went up to her whispered something in her ear and then pushing her

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

in silence and then in a broken voice begged me to let him go to bed I ll tell ye the morn he said as sure as death I will And so weak was he that I could do nothing but consent I locked him into his room however and pocketed the key and then returning to the kitchen made up such a blaze as had not shone there for many a long year and wrapping myself in my plaid lay down upon the chests and fell asleep CHAPTER V I GO TO THE QUEEN S FERRY Much rain fell

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

cases you will be shown a heap of paper and you will look for this page of the _Times_ among it The odds are enormously against your finding it There are ten shillings over in case of emergencies Let me have a report by wire at Baker Street before evening And now Watson it only remains for us to find out by wire the identity of the cabman No 2704 and then we will drop into one of the Bond Street picture galleries and fill in the time until we are due at the hotel Chapter 5 Three Broken Threads

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

special brain center but scattered throughout their spinal cords could not be tapped by any modern weapons The most that we could do was to check their progress by distracting their attention with the flash and roar of our guns and so to give both the natives and ourselves time to reach the steps which led to safety But where the conical explosive bullets of the twentieth century were of no avail the poisoned arrows of the natives dipped in the juice of strophanthus and steeped afterwards in decayed carrion could succeed Such arrows were of little avail to the

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

it Nickleby he said after a pause Nicholas shrugged his shoulders in a manner that was scarcely perceptible and said he saw it was And a very good way it is too said Squeers Now just take them fourteen little boys and hear them some reading because you know you must begin to be useful Idling about here won t do Mr Squeers said this as if it had suddenly occurred to him either that he must not say too much to his assistant or that his assistant did not say enough to him in praise of the establishment The

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

love This I promised and so the matter rests So there is one of our small mysteries cleared up It is something to have touched bottom anywhere in this bog in which we are floundering We know now why Stapleton looked with disfavour upon his sister s suitor even when that suitor was so eligible a one as Sir Henry And now I pass on to another thread which I have extricated out of the tangled skein the mystery of the sobs in the night of the tear stained face of Mrs Barrymore of the secret journey of the butler

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

is rather a ridiculous line of conversation He turned away but I saw that he felt even more than he had said To all the old ghost stories of Thorpe Place a new one was being added before our very eyes It may by this time have taken its permanent place for though an explanation came to me it never reached the others And my explanation came in this way I had suffered a sleepless night from neuralgia and about midday I had taken a heavy dose of chlorodyne to alleviate the pain At that time I was finishing the

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

circumstances my lord replied Ralph On your lordship s circumstances interposed Colonel Chowser of the Militia and the race courses The gallant colonel glanced at Messrs Pyke and Pluck as if he thought they ought to laugh at his joke but those gentlemen being only engaged to laugh for Sir Mulberry Hawk were to his signal discomfiture as grave as a pair of undertakers To add to his defeat Sir Mulberry considering any such efforts an invasion of his peculiar privilege eyed the offender steadily through his glass as if astonished at his presumption and audibly stated his impression that

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

better said John Clay serenely He made a sweeping bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective Really Mr Holmes said Mr Merryweather as we followed them from the cellar I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr John Clay said

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

the garden in a wide circuit I would fain see whether thine eyes betrayed thee Keeping well outwards from the wall and profiting by every height and hollow they passed about two sides beholding nothing On the third side the garden wall was built close upon the beach and to preserve the distance necessary to their purpose they had to go some way down upon the sands Although the tide was still pretty far out the surf was so high and the sands so flat that at each breaker a great sheet of froth and water came careering over the

Jane Austen

Persuasion

by the barns and buildings of a farm yard Mary exclaimed Bless me here is Winthrop I declare I had no idea Well now I think we had better turn back I am excessively tired Henrietta conscious and ashamed and seeing no cousin Charles walking along any path or leaning against any gate was ready to do as Mary wished but No said Charles Musgrove and No no cried Louisa more eagerly and taking her sister aside seemed to be arguing the matter warmly Charles in the meanwhile was very decidedly declaring his resolution of calling on his aunt now

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

to and fro With all that a sort of horror of despair sat on my mind so that I could have wept at my own helplessness I saw Alan knitting his brows at me and supposed it was in anger and that gave me a pang of light headed fear like what a child may have I remember too that I was smiling and could not stop smiling hard as I tried for I thought it was out of place at such a time But my good companion had nothing in his mind but kindness and the next moment two

Jane Austen

Persuasion

Miss Elliot that she did not hear the appeal I have no conception whom you can mean Shepherd I remember no gentleman resident at Monkford since the time of old Governor Trent Bless me how very odd I shall forget my own name soon I suppose A name that I am so very well acquainted with knew the gentleman so well by sight seen him a hundred times came to consult me once I remember about a trespass of one of his neighbours farmer s man breaking into his orchard wall torn down apples stolen caught in the fact and

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

to the constant and unremitting persecution of Sir Mulberry Hawk who now began to feel his character even in the estimation of his two dependants involved in the successful reduction of her pride that she had no intervals of peace or rest except at those hours when she could sit in her solitary room and weep over the trials of the day all these were consequences naturally flowing from the well laid plans of Sir Mulberry and their able execution by the auxiliaries Pyke and Pluck And thus for a fortnight matters went on That any but the weakest and

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

decisive man ordered that the sound should not be answered but that the course should be changed and that his men should make towards it at the double So we slanted to the right where the East was and Joe pounded away so wonderfully that I had to hold on tight to keep my seat It was a run indeed now and what Joe called in the only two words he spoke all the time a Winder Down banks and up banks and over gates and splashing into dikes and breaking among coarse rushes no man cared where he went

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

fate was not that of the voyager by sea and land he was to travel in the spirit and begin his journey sooner than he supposed For it chanced one day that his walk led him into a portion of the uplands which was almost unknown to him Scrambling through some rough woods he came out upon a moorland reaching towards the hills A few lofty Scotch firs grew hard by upon a knoll a clear fountain near the foot of the knoll sent up a miniature streamlet which meandered in the heather A shower had just skimmed by but

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

him shouted vague orders He saw close at hand the black moustached man in yellow who had been among those who had greeted him in the public theatre shouting directions The hall was already densely packed with swaying people the little metal gallery sagged with a shouting load the curtains at the end had been torn away and the antechamber was revealed densely crowded He could scarcely make the man near him hear for the tumult about them Where has Ostrog gone he asked The man he questioned pointed over the heads towards the lower panels about the hall on

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

better be done by somebody else Dan l said Mrs Gummidge I m a lone lorn creetur myself and everythink that reminds me of creetur s that ain t lone and lorn goes contrary with me Come old gal cried Mr Peggotty Take and heave it No Dan l returned Mrs Gummidge whimpering and shaking her head If I felt less I could do more You don t feel like me Dan l thinks don t go contrary with you nor you with them you had better do it yourself But here Peggotty who had been going about from one

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

that was to inquire into my state of mind towards God I was inclined to smile at him since the business of the snuff but he had not spoken long before he brought the tears into my eyes There are two things that men should never weary of goodness and humility we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold proud people but Mr Henderland had their very speech upon his tongue And though I was a good deal puffed up with my adventures and with having come off as the saying is with flying colours

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

his favourite child Poor dear what do you think of this brother Ned Madeline has only written to her once only once Ned and she didn t think she would have forgotten her quite so soon Ned Oh sad sad very sad said Ned The brothers interchanged a glance and looking at Kate for a little time without speaking shook hands and nodded as if they were congratulating each other on something very delightful Well well said brother Charles go into that room my dear that door yonder and see if there s not a letter for you from her

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

acquaintance Be seated if you please And I showed him an example and sat down myself in my customary seat and with as fair an imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient as the lateness of the hour the nature of my preoccupations and the horror I had of my visitor would suffer me to muster I beg your pardon Dr Lanyon he replied civilly enough What you say is very well founded and my impatience has shown its heels to my politeness I come here at the instance of your colleague Dr Henry Jekyll on a piece of

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

across rapids and in each case made a portage of half a mile or so to avoid them The woods on either side were primeval which are more easily penetrated than woods of the second growth and we had no great difficulty in carrying our canoes through them How shall I ever forget the solemn mystery of it The height of the trees and the thickness of the boles exceeded anything which I in my town bred life could have imagined shooting upwards in magnificent columns until at an enormous distance above our heads we could dimly discern the spot

Jane Austen

Persuasion

of more and always the knowledge of his being there It was in one of these short meetings each apparently occupied in admiring a fine display of greenhouse plants that she said I have been thinking over the past and trying impartially to judge of the right and wrong I mean with regard to myself and I must believe that I was right much as I suffered from it that I was perfectly right in being guided by the friend whom you will love better than you do now To me she was in the place of a parent Do

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

On receiving it she could instantly decide on its containing little writing and was persuaded of its having the air of a letter of haste and business Its object was unquestionable and two moments were enough to start the probability of its being merely to give her notice that they should be in Portsmouth that very day and to throw her into all the agitation of doubting what she ought to do in such a case If two moments however can surround with difficulties a third can disperse them and before she had opened the letter the possibility of Mr

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

observed in a shop assistant before Then came a lot of youngsters scattering sawdust and carrying pails and brooms I had to dodge to get out of the way and as it was my ankle got stung with the sawdust For some time wandering through the swathed and darkened departments I could hear the brooms at work And at last a good hour or more after the shop had been closed came a noise of locking doors Silence came upon the place and I found myself wandering through the vast and intricate shops galleries show rooms of the place alone

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

is your number one the second my number one The more you value your number one the more careful you must be of mine so we come at last to what I told you at first that a regard for number one holds us all together and must do so unless we would all go to pieces in company That s true rejoined Mr Bolter thoughtfully Oh yer a cunning old codger Mr Fagin saw with delight that this tribute to his powers was no mere compliment but that he had really impressed his recruit with a sense of his

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

felt it almost impossible to repress Nor was the intensity of these feelings at all diminished when she found herself placed at the top of the table with Sir Mulberry Hawk and Lord Frederick Verisopht on either side Oh you ve found your way into our neighbourhood have you said Sir Mulberry as his lordship sat down Of course replied Lord Frederick fixing his eyes on Miss Nickleby how can you a ask me Well you attend to your dinner said Sir Mulberry and don t mind Miss Nickleby and me for we shall prove very indifferent company I dare

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

is called eerie came upon him He closed the door of the room came forward to the dressing table and put down his burdens Suddenly with a start he perceived a coiled and blood stained bandage of linen rag hanging in mid air between him and the wash hand stand He stared at this in amazement It was an empty bandage a bandage properly tied but quite empty He would have advanced to grasp it but a touch arrested him and a voice speaking quite close to him Kemp said the Voice Eh said Kemp with his mouth open Keep

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

starved in good earnest As he said this Ralph clenched his left wrist tightly with his right hand and inclining his head a little on one side and dropping his chin upon his breast looked at him whom he addressed with a frowning sullen face The very picture of a man whom nothing could move or soften Yesterday was my first day in London said the old man glancing at his travel stained dress and worn shoes It would have been better for you I think if it had been your last also replied Ralph I have been seeking you

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

discriminating action it was neither diabolical nor divine it but shook the doors of the prisonhouse of my disposition and like the captives of Philippi that which stood within ran forth At that time my virtue slumbered my evil kept awake by ambition was alert and swift to seize the occasion and the thing that was projected was Edward Hyde Hence although I had now two characters as well as two appearances one was wholly evil and the other was still the old Henry Jekyll that incongruous compound of whose reformation and improvement I had already learned to despair The

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

taken from him It hung limp for a moment in mid air fluttered weirdly stood full and decorous buttoning itself and sat down in his chair Drawers socks slippers would be a comfort said the Unseen curtly And food Anything But this is the insanest thing I ever was in in my life He turned out his drawers for the articles and then went downstairs to ransack his larder He came back with some cold cutlets and bread pulled up a light table and placed them before his guest Never mind knives said his visitor and a cutlet hung in

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

the coming of man Question boomed the voice once more Waldron looked with amazement along the line of professors upon the platform until his eyes fell upon the figure of Challenger who leaned back in his chair with closed eyes and an amused expression as if he were smiling in his sleep I see said Waldron with a shrug It is my friend Professor Challenger and amid laughter he renewed his lecture as if this was a final explanation and no more need be said But the incident was far from being closed Whatever path the lecturer took amid the

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

make the most of what we have Ye shall come on board my brig for half an hour till the ebb sets and drink a bowl with me Now I longed to see the inside of a ship more than words can tell but I was not going to put myself in jeopardy and I told him my uncle and I had an appointment with a lawyer Ay ay said he he passed me word of that But ye see the boat ll set ye ashore at the town pier and that s but a penny stonecast from Rankeillor s

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

beauty Mrs Long said so too for I asked her whether you did not And what do you think she said besides Ah Mrs Bennet we shall have her at Netherfield at last She did indeed I do think Mrs Long is as good a creature as ever lived and her nieces are very pretty behaved girls and not at all handsome I like them prodigiously Mrs Bennet in short was in very great spirits she had seen enough of Bingley s behaviour to Jane to be convinced that she would get him at last and her expectations of advantage

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

prefer the clock Certainly said the stranger certainly but as a rule I like to be alone and undisturbed But I m really glad to have the clock seen to he said seeing a certain hesitation in Mr Henfrey s manner Very glad Mr Henfrey had intended to apologise and withdraw but this anticipation reassured him The stranger turned round with his back to the fireplace and put his hands behind his back And presently he said when the clock mending is over I think I should like to have some tea But not till the clock mending is over

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

the house and thought of them and felt for them with a degree of affectionate regret which they had never done much to deserve CHAPTER XXII Fanny s consequence increased on the departure of her cousins Becoming as she then did the only young woman in the drawing room the only occupier of that interesting division of a family in which she had hitherto held so humble a third it was impossible for her not to be more looked at more thought of and attended to than she had ever been before and Where is Fanny became no uncommon question

Jane Austen

Emma

of herself these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments The danger however was at present so unperceived that they did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her Sorrow came a gentle sorrow but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness Miss Taylor married It was Miss Taylor s loss which first brought grief It was on the wedding day of this beloved friend that Emma first sat in mournful thought of any continuance The wedding over and the bride people gone her father and herself were left to dine together with

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

of pain between them and very dexterously and swiftly he bound my arm meanwhile He slung it from my shoulder stood back and looked at me You ll do he said And now He thought Then he went out and locked the gates of the enclosure He was absent some time I was chiefly concerned about my arm The incident seemed merely one more of many horrible things I sat down in the deck chair and I must admit swore heartily at the island The first dull feeling of injury in my arm had already given way to a burning

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

to parry mishaps I even called and made myself a familiar object in my second character I next drew up that will to which you so much objected so that if anything befell me in the person of Dr Jekyll I could enter on that of Edward Hyde without pecuniary loss And thus fortified as I supposed on every side I began to profit by the strange immunities of my position Men have before hired bravos to transact their crimes while their own person and reputation sat under shelter I was the first that ever did so for his pleasures

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

from the color of his clothes that he is working in the quarries Of course you have seen him then Why are you looking at that dark tree in the lane I saw him there on the night she died That was not the last time either Biddy No I have seen him there since we have been walking here It is of no use said Biddy laying her hand upon my arm as I was for running out you know I would not deceive you he was not there a minute and he is gone It revived my utmost

Jane Austen

Persuasion

be hysterical again I dare say we shall have nothing to distress us I perfectly understand Mr Robinson s directions and have no fears and indeed Mary I cannot wonder at your husband Nursing does not belong to a man it is not his province A sick child is always the mother s property her own feelings generally make it so I hope I am as fond of my child as any mother but I do not know that I am of any more use in the sick room than Charles for I cannot be always scolding and teazing the

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

illustrate his remarks My only other remembrances of the great festival are That they wouldn t let me go to sleep but whenever they saw me dropping off woke me up and told me to enjoy myself That rather late in the evening Mr Wopsle gave us Collins s ode and threw his bloodstained sword in thunder down with such effect that a waiter came in and said The Commercials underneath sent up their compliments and it wasn t the Tumblers Arms That they were all in excellent spirits on the road home and sang O Lady Fair Mr Wopsle

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

breath of it came near the house of Shaws It had fallen blacker than ever and I was glad to feel along the wall till I came the length of the stairtower door at the far end of the unfinished wing I had got the key into the keyhole and had just turned it when all upon a sudden without sound of wind or thunder the whole sky lighted up with wild fire and went black again I had to put my hand over my eyes to get back to the colour of the darkness and indeed I was already

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

sobbing and found two scared little girls crouched by a railing These children became silent at the near sound of feet He tried to console them but they were very still until he left them Then as he receded he could hear them sobbing again Presently he found himself at the foot of a staircase and near a wide opening He saw a dim twilight above this and ascended out of the blackness into a street of moving ways again Along this a disorderly swarm of people marched shouting They were singing snatches of the song of the revolt most

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

that it has been tampered with said Mortimer It caught my eye the moment that I passed through the room this morning I examined it yesterday evening so that it is certain that this has happened during the night It was as he had said obvious that someone had been at work upon it The settings of the uppermost row of four stones the carnelian peridot emerald and ruby were rough and jagged as if someone had scraped all round them The stones were in their places but the beautiful gold work which we had admired only a few days

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

this little thing alongside a rough weather chap like me said Mr Peggotty looking round at both of us with infinite pride but the sea ain t more salt in it than she has fondness in her for her uncle a foolish little Em ly Em ly s in the right in that Mas r Davy said Ham Lookee here As Em ly wishes of it and as she s hurried and frightened like besides I ll leave her till morning Let me stay too No no said Mr Peggotty You doen t ought a married man like you or

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

or will he find courage to release himself at the

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

explain I have meant to I have wanted to And now I cannot I am not ready with words But about you there is something It is wonder Your sleep your awakening These things are miracles To me at least and to all the common people You who lived and suffered and died you who were a common citizen wake again live again to find yourself Master almost of the earth Master of the earth he said So they tell me But try and imagine how little I know of it Cities Trusts the Labour Department Principalities powers dominions the

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

equally in the Duke s dependence it mattered less than might appear Still I cried out that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle who for all he was a Whig was yet a wise and honest nobleman Hoot said Alan the man s a Whig nae doubt but I would never deny he was a good chieftain to his clan And what would the clan think if there was a Campbell shot and naebody hanged and their own chief the Justice General But I have often observed says Alan that you Low country bodies have no clear idea

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

poor Harry is killed and I believe his murderer for what purpose God alone can tell is still lurking in his victim s room Well let our name be vengeance Call Bradshaw The footman came at the summons very white and nervous Pull yourself together Bradshaw said the lawyer This suspense I know is telling upon all of you but it is now our intention to make an end of it Poole here and I are going to force our way into the cabinet If all is well my shoulders are broad enough to bear the blame Meanwhile lest anything

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

a conversation in which she had no share Louisa you will not mind my waking Mr Hurst Her sister had not the smallest objection and the pianoforte was opened and Darcy after a few moments recollection was not sorry for it He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention Chapter 12 In consequence of an agreement between the sisters Elizabeth wrote the next morning to their mother to beg that the carriage might be sent for them in the course of the day But Mrs Bennet who had calculated on her daughters remaining at Netherfield till

Jane Austen

Emma

years been crowded Tea passed pleasantly and nobody seemed in a hurry to move Miss Woodhouse said Frank Churchill after examining a table behind him which he could reach as he sat have your nephews taken away their alphabets their box of letters It used to stand here Where is it This is a sort of dull looking evening that ought to be treated rather as winter than summer We had great amusement with those letters one morning I want to puzzle you again Emma was pleased with the thought and producing the box the table was quickly scattered over

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

too and so redeemed the pledge Where is it now asked Monks quickly _There_ replied the woman And as if glad to be relieved of it she hastily threw upon the table a small kid bag scarcely large enough for a French watch which Monks pouncing upon tore open with trembling hands It contained a little gold locket in which were two locks of hair and a plain gold wedding ring It has the word Agnes engraved on the inside said the woman There is a blank left for the surname and then follows the date which is within a

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

the footlights and fell into a beautiful attitude of terror as a shabby gentleman in an old pair of buff slippers came in at one powerful slide and chattering his teeth fiercely brandished a walking stick They are going through the Indian Savage and the Maiden said Mrs Crummles Oh said the manager the little ballet interlude Very good go on A little this way if you please Mr Johnson That ll do Now The manager clapped his hands as a signal to proceed and the savage becoming ferocious made a slide towards the maiden but the maiden avoided him

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

own little room and I was pleased too for I felt that I had done rather a great thing in making the request When the shadows of evening were closing in I took an opportunity of getting into the garden with Biddy for a little talk Biddy said I I think you might have written to me about these sad matters Do you Mr Pip said Biddy I should have written if I had thought that Don t suppose that I mean to be unkind Biddy when I say I consider that you ought to have thought that Do you

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

a community of interests in science kept us so He had brought back much scientific information from South Africa and many a charming evening we have spent together discussing the comparative anatomy of the Bushman and the Hottentot Within the last few months it became increasingly plain to me that Sir Charles s nervous system was strained to the breaking point He had taken this legend which I have read you exceedingly to heart so much so that although he would walk in his own grounds nothing would induce him to go out upon the moor at night Incredible as

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

and walked in a very stately manner up to Nicholas who suffered him to approach to within the requisite distance and then without the smallest discomposure knocked him down Before the discomfited tragedian could raise his head from the boards Mrs Lenville who as has been before hinted was in an interesting state rushed from the rear rank of ladies and uttering a piercing scream threw herself upon the body Do you see this monster Do you see THIS cried Mr Lenville sitting up and pointing to his prostrate lady who was holding him very tight round the waist Come

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

and he asked her how he could have it sent He bowed his bandaged head quite politely in acknowledgment of her explanation To morrow he said There is no speedier delivery and seemed quite disappointed when she answered No Was she quite sure No man with a trap who would go over Mrs Hall nothing loath answered his questions and developed a conversation It s a steep road by the down sir she said in answer to the question about a trap and then snatching at an opening said It was there a carriage was upsettled a year ago and

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

hands he stooped to get it and at the same moment both men ran in and closed with him A little after he got to his feet very sore and shaken the poorer by a purse which contained exactly one penny postage stamp by a cambric handkerchief and by the all important envelope Here was a young man on whom at the highest point of lovely exaltation there had fallen a blow too sharp to be supported alone and not many hundred yards away his greatest friend was sitting at supper ay and even expecting him Was it not in

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

between them and she may be forgiven by older sages for looking on the chance of Miss Crawford s future improvement as nearly desperate for thinking that if Edmund s influence in this season of love had already done so little in clearing her judgment and regulating her notions his worth would be finally wasted on her even in years of matrimony Experience might have hoped more for any young people so circumstanced and impartiality would not have denied to Miss Crawford s nature that participation of the general nature of women which would lead her to adopt the opinions

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

himself or interpose to redress a wrong offered to another as boldly and freely as any knight that ever set lance in rest but he lacked that peculiar excess of coolness and great minded selfishness which invariably distinguish gentlemen of high spirit In truth for our own part we are disposed to look upon such gentleman as being rather incumbrances than otherwise in rising families happening to be acquainted with several whose spirit prevents their settling down to any grovelling occupation and only displays itself in a tendency to cultivate moustachios and look fierce and although moustachios and ferocity are

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

here said I Say that likewise retorted Pumblechook Say you said that and even Joseph will probably betray surprise There you quite mistake him said I I know better Says you Pumblechook went on Joseph I have seen that man and that man bears you no malice and bears me no malice He knows your character Joseph and is well acquainted with your pig headedness and ignorance and he knows my character Joseph and he knows my want of gratitoode Yes Joseph says you here Pumblechook shook his head and hand at me he knows my total deficiency of common

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

upon their short rifles and glanced keenly at us as we passed The coachman a hard faced gnarled little fellow saluted Sir Henry Baskerville and in a few minutes we were flying swiftly down the broad white road Rolling pasture lands curved upward on either side of us and old gabled houses peeped out from amid the thick green foliage but behind the peaceful and sunlit countryside there rose ever dark against the evening sky the long gloomy curve of the moor broken by the jagged and sinister hills The wagonette swung round into a side road and we curved

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

decorative façade That gradual passage of town into country through an extensive sponge of suburbs which was so characteristic a feature of the great cities of the nineteenth century existed no longer Nothing remained of it here but a waste of ruins variegated and dense with thickets of the heterogeneous growths that had once adorned the gardens of the belt interspersed among levelled brown patches of sown ground and verdant stretches of winter greens The latter even spread among the vestiges of houses But for the most part the reefs and skerries of ruins the wreckage of suburban villas stood

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

comfort in their twinkling All the old constellations had gone from the sky however that slow movement which is imperceptible in a hundred human lifetimes had long since rearranged them in unfamiliar groupings But the Milky Way it seemed to me was still the same tattered streamer of star dust as of yore Southward as I judged it was a very bright red star that was new to me it was even more splendid than our own green Sirius And amid all these scintillating points of light one bright planet shone kindly and steadily like the face of an old

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

him away from the outlook You are tired he said and while I sit you walk about Have my chair He placed himself between Griffin and the nearest window For a space Griffin sat silent and then he resumed abruptly I had left the Chesilstowe cottage already he said when that happened It was last December I had taken a room in London a large unfurnished room in a big ill managed lodging house in a slum near Great Portland Street The room was soon full of the appliances I had bought with his money the work was going on

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

which to start our speculation Now you would call it a guess no doubt but I am almost certain that this address has been written in a hotel How in the world can you say that If you examine it carefully you will see that both the pen and the ink have given the writer trouble The pen has spluttered twice in a single word and has run dry three times in a short address showing that there was very little ink in the bottle Now a private pen or ink bottle is seldom allowed to be in such a

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

successes to which we shall refer no farther pulling down his neckcloth with a smile That man exists no more by an exercise of will I have destroyed him There is something like it in the poets First a brilliant and conspicuous career the observed I may say of all observers including the bum bailie and then presto a quiet sly old rustic _bonhomme_ cultivating roses In Paris Mr Naseby Call him Richard father said Esther Richard if he will allow me Indeed we are old friends and now near neighbours and _à propos_ how are we off for neighbours

Jane Austen

Emma

Harriet was professing himself _her_ lover She tried to stop him but vainly he would go on and say it all Angry as she was the thought of the moment made her resolve to restrain herself when she did speak She felt that half this folly must be drunkenness and therefore could hope that it might belong only to the passing hour Accordingly with a mixture of the serious and the playful which she hoped would best suit his half and half state she replied I am very much astonished Mr Elton This to _me_ you forget yourself you take

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

with the puma The brandy I did not touch for I have been an abstainer from my birth VII THE LOCKED DOOR The reader will perhaps understand that at first everything was so strange about me and my position was the outcome of such unexpected adventures that I had no discernment of the relative strangeness of this or that thing I followed the llama up the beach and was overtaken by Montgomery who asked me not to enter the stone enclosure I noticed then that the puma in its cage and the pile of packages had been placed outside the

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

which formed a grotesque accompaniment to the shriek with which it was blended For three or four minutes on end the fearsome duet continued while all the foliage rustled with the rising of startled birds Then it shut off as suddenly as it began For a long time we sat in horrified silence Then Lord John threw a bundle of twigs upon the fire and their red glare lit up the intent faces of my companions and flickered over the great boughs above our heads What was it I whispered We shall know in the morning said Lord John It

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

Has he been doing the Amateur Cadger I don t follow I met the eye of the Psychologist and read my own interpretation in his face I thought of the Time Traveller limping painfully upstairs I don t think anyone else had noticed his lameness The first to recover completely from this surprise was the Medical Man who rang the bell the Time Traveller hated to have servants waiting at dinner for a hot plate At that the Editor turned to his knife and fork with a grunt and the Silent Man followed suit The dinner was resumed Conversation was

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

for their enemies What do you make of them Challenger asked Lord John One thing is very clear to me and that is that the little chap with the front of his head shaved is a chief among them It was indeed evident that this man stood apart from the others and that they never ventured to address him without every sign of deep respect He seemed to be the youngest of them all and yet so proud and high was his spirit that upon Challenger laying his great hand upon his head he started like a spurred horse and

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

off his hat and prayed a little while aloud and in affecting terms for a young man setting out into the world then suddenly took me in his arms and embraced me very hard then held me at arm s length looking at me with his face all working with sorrow and then whipped about and crying good bye to me set off backward by the way that we had come at a sort of jogging run It might have been laughable to another but I was in no mind to laugh I watched him as long as he was

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

perhaps might feel that it would not much amuse him to have her for a partner Very well was her ladyship s contented answer then speculation if you please Mrs Grant I know nothing about it but Fanny must teach me Here Fanny interposed however with anxious protestations of her own equal ignorance she had never played the game nor seen it played in her life and Lady Bertram felt a moment s indecision again but upon everybody s assuring her that nothing could be so easy that it was the easiest game on the cards and Henry Crawford s

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

nodded his head very seriously and walked on once more in silence THE LAST NIGHT Mr Utterson was sitting by his fireside one evening after dinner when he was surprised to receive a visit from Poole Bless me Poole what brings you here he cried and then taking a second look at him What ails you he added is the doctor ill Mr Utterson said the man there is something wrong Take a seat and here is a glass of wine for you said the lawyer Now take your time and tell me plainly what you want You know the

Jane Austen

Emma

on a day now near at hand and spending the whole evening away from him As for _his_ going Emma did not wish him to think it possible the hours would be too late and the party too numerous He was soon pretty well resigned I am not fond of dinner visiting said he I never was No more is Emma Late hours do not agree with us I am sorry Mr and Mrs Cole should have done it I think it would be much better if they would come in one afternoon next summer and take their tea with

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

pass minute after minute through a hundred degrees of cold damp and exhaustion In a little while he ceased to feel his hands and feet The gutter sloped downwards He observed that they were now many feet below the edge of the buildings Rows of spectral white shapes like the ghosts of blind drawn windows rose above them They came to the end of a cable fastened above one of these white windows dimly visible and dropping into impenetrable shadows Suddenly his hand came against his guide s _Still_ whispered the latter very softly He looked up with a start

Jane Austen

Emma

find agreeable though every body seemed rather fagged after the morning s party Even pleasure you know is fatiguing and I cannot say that any of them seemed very much to have enjoyed it However _I_ shall always think it a very pleasant party and feel extremely obliged to the kind friends who included me in it Miss Fairfax I suppose though you were not aware of it had been making up her mind the whole day I dare say she had Whenever the time may come it must be unwelcome to her and all her friends but I hope

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

cook crying out Bless God it s Mr Utterson ran forward as if to take him in her arms What what Are you all here said the lawyer peevishly Very irregular very unseemly your master would be far from pleased They re all afraid said Poole Blank silence followed no one protesting only the maid lifted her voice and now wept loudly Hold your tongue Poole said to her with a ferocity of accent that testified to his own jangled nerves and indeed when the girl had so suddenly raised the note of her lamentation they had all started and

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

five minutes before the half hour you must be at table in your old seat under Uncle Duthie s picture Flora will be there to keep you countenance and we shall see what we shall see Wouldn t it be wiser for me to stay in bed said John If you mean to manage your own concerns you can do precisely what you like replied Alexander but if you are not in your place five minutes before the half hour I wash my hands of you for one And thereupon he departed He had spoken warmly but the truth is

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

an it like your grace returned Lord Foxham He hath well served the cause It likes me well said Richard Let them be wedded speedily Say fair maid will you wed My lord duke said Alicia so as the man is straight And there in a perfect consternation the voice died on her tongue He is straight my mistress replied Richard calmly I am the only crookback of my party we are else passably well shapen Ladies and you my lord he added with a sudden change to grave courtesy judge me not too churlish if I leave you A

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

born and bred in retirement and wholly unacquainted with what is called the world a conventional phrase which being interpreted often signifieth all the rascals in it mingled their tears together at the thought of their first separation and this first gush of feeling over were proceeding to dilate with all the buoyancy of untried hope on the bright prospects before them when Mr Ralph Nickleby suggested that if they lost time some more fortunate candidate might deprive Nicholas of the stepping stone to fortune which the advertisement pointed out and so undermine all their air built castles This timely

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

and bit it through It sets my teeth on edge to think of it He beat me then as if he would have beaten me to death Above all the noise we made I heard them running up the stairs and crying out I heard my mother crying out and Peggotty Then he was gone and the door was locked outside and I was lying fevered and hot and torn and sore and raging in my puny way upon the floor How well I recollect when I became quiet what an unnatural stillness seemed to reign through the whole house

Jane Austen

Emma

heard him speak and so must you so very highly of Jane Fairfax The interest he takes in her his anxiety about her health his concern that she should have no happier prospect I have heard him express himself so warmly on those points Such an admirer of her performance on the pianoforte and of her voice I have heard him say that he could listen to her for ever Oh and I had almost forgotten one idea that occurred to me this pianoforte that has been sent here by somebody though we have all been so well satisfied to

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

almost unendurable provocation and once or twice things were snapped torn crushed or broken in spasmodic gusts of violence He seemed under a chronic irritation of the greatest intensity His habit of talking to himself in a low voice grew steadily upon him but though Mrs Hall listened conscientiously she could make neither head nor tail of what she heard He rarely went abroad by daylight but at twilight he would go out muffled up invisibly whether the weather were cold or not and he chose the loneliest paths and those most overshadowed by trees and banks His goggling spectacles

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

at my intense excitement overnight I made a careful examination of the ground about the little lawn I wasted some time in futile questionings conveyed as well as I was able to such of the little people as came by They all failed to understand my gestures some were simply stolid some thought it was a jest and laughed at me I had the hardest task in the world to keep my hands off their pretty laughing faces It was a foolish impulse but the devil begotten of fear and blind anger was ill curbed and still eager to take

Jane Austen

Persuasion

to speak to her She felt that something must be the matter The change was indubitable The difference between his present air and what it had been in the Octagon Room was strikingly great Why was it She thought of her father of Lady Russell Could there have been any unpleasant glances He began by speaking of the concert gravely more like the Captain Wentworth of Uppercross owned himself disappointed had expected singing and in short must confess that he should not be sorry when it was over Anne replied and spoke in defence of the performance so well and